


Five Times Giles and Anya Could Have Met

by cmk418



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-06-14
Updated: 2009-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27950237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418
Summary: The title pretty much sums it up.Written for Summer of Giles 2009
Relationships: Rupert Giles/Anya Jenkins
Kudos: 2





	Five Times Giles and Anya Could Have Met

“Rupert, you pig! I wish you had gone to Grandmum’s like you were s’posed to,” Twelve-year-old Marian Giles stomped her foot and marched past the woman standing by the gate.

“Done,” said the woman.

There was a whooshing sound and Rupert felt himself falling.

He landed in mud. A pigpen, to be precise. Right in the middle of his grandparents’ farm.

Meanwhile, Anyanka returned to her home dimension. Demons spoke together in hushed tones, falling silent as she approached. Her boss was looking none too happy as she passed his lair.

“Anyanka, a word,” said D’Hoffryn.

_Oh, this couldn’t be good. Was I too soft? I should have turned him into a pig._

“You know the rules requiring a child to be at least ten before vengeance can be exacted. You must undo it.”

“He’s how old?” she asked.

“Nine and three-quarters.”  
  
“Can’t we give or take three months? Honestly, D’Hoffryn, he was making his sister’s life difficult. She couldn’t even hold that wish in.”

“There are reasons for the rules. Do you want us to be no better than Chaos demons?”

“No.”

“Then go fix it.”

Rupert was wiping the muck off his trousers when Anyanka appeared. He stumbled backwards, landing once again in the mud.

“Serves you right,” said Anyanka.

“What’d I do?”

“You were born in October.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Couldn’t you have waited to torment your sister until then?”

“Which sis?”

“You have more than one that you torment?”

“Well, Marian is just a pill. Always fixing her hair and trying to impress boys. It’s gross. Lilias is a pest, following me around, getting into my secret stuff.”

“You’re nine. How much secret stuff can you have?”

“A lot. I’m nearly ten. How old are you?”

“It’s not polite to ask a lady her age.”

“Thirty, I’ll bet.”

“Thirty? Not even close, but since we’re never going to see each other again, I’ll tell you. Eleven hundred.” Yes, she admitted to herself, it was a slight lie, but once she passed a millennium, shaving off a decade or three was no great offense.

“You lie! Nobody’s that old.”

“No human is.”

Rupert reached a hand in her direction. Anyanka sidestepped him. “You’re grubby.”

“Never touched a demon before.”

“Why aren’t you trembling in fear?”

“You’re not a girl. It’s daylight and you’re not dust, so you can’t be a vampire. And you haven’t tried to eat me yet, so I guess you’re one of those friendly demons.”

“I am not!”

“Do you spit acid or something like that?”

“I’m a vengeance demon. I grant wishes for wronged women.”

Rupert seemed to think about this for a moment. “You must be pretty busy.”

“Yes. I need to send you back home now so I can get back to work.”

“Wait!”

“What is it now?”

“Can you grant me a wish? Because I’d really like-“

“No.”

“Can you at least tell me your name so I can look you up in Father’s demonology books when I get home?”

“Anyanka,” she said, with a smile. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Rupert. Be good to your sisters, so we don’t have to do this again, all right?”

His mouth dropped open as he saw her brown eyes suddenly flare gold. Before he could react further, there was another whooshing sound and Rupert found himself nearly toppling over Lilias as he reappeared in front of his parent’s house.

“Where’d you go?” she asked. “And why do you smell like pigs?”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rupert looked around the room again. The preparations had been made to his liking. He’d chalked the pentagram on the floor, complete with symbols meant to welcome the demon he was summoning. The others had seen the markings so many times that they didn’t bother looking anymore, so he was sure that the slight deviations he’d made would go unnoticed.

The spell was another thing entirely. He’d checked and double-checked the translations, making sure that the amendments to the spell were correct. He’d memorized his part in the calling so that he could utter the new portions without hesitation.

Despite all these plans, Ethan was the first to arrive. Hot on his heels was Diedre, who entered with a “Sorry, Ripper. Car trouble.”

Rupert sent a pointed glance Ethan’s way. Ethan just smiled and went to make himself comfortable in the center of the pentagram.

“What’s with the getup, Ripper? Not Halloween for a few months yet, is it?” Ethan asked.

_Perhaps the suit had been a little over the top for this lot._

Diedre laid a hand on Rupert’s arm and whispered, “And it’s not as though you won’t be out of it by midnight anyway.”

_Sweet Aphrodite, she was beautiful and perfect and Ethan just wouldn’t do._

“Get up,” said Rupert, leveling his best “Ripper” glare at Ethan.

“I do love it when you play rough,” goaded Ethan.

Rupert took off his suit jacket and threw a punch at Ethan. Ethan swerved out of the way. Rupert threw another and Ethan evaded it smoothly. Fed up, Rupert tackled him, pinning him to the floor.

“Well, if you wanted that, all you had to do was ask.”

The door opened and Phillip, Thomas, and Randall entered.

“Looks like we’re late to the party,” said Thomas.

“Ripper and Ethan writhing around on the floor together. Must be Tuesday,” deadpanned Randall.

“You lot, start to prep Diedre,” ordered Rupert.

“But I’m the vessel,” protested Ethan.

“Listen close,” Rupert hissed in Ethan’s ear so low that the others wouldn’t be able to hear him. “We’re going off-script tonight and the demon I have in mind will be more receptive to a woman as the vessel. If you’re set on it, well, we just might have a repeat of the Kleeta’ara incident.”

Ethan shuddered, pushed Rupert away, and skittered out of the center of the pentagram. “You had to bring that up, did you?”

Rupert merely smiled and pulled his jacket back on.

“Ripper, you’re all decked out,” noted Phillip. “Thinking about taking the demon out for drinks later.”

“Sod off,” Rupert said to the laughing group as he repaired a smudge in the pentagram.

Once everything was ready again to his liking, Rupert knelt facing Diedre and began the spell to summon the demon. As he chanted, he focused on Diedre, watching for any minute changes.

When Diedre’s eyes flared gold before returning to their normal green, he smiled and said, “Hello, Anyanka. It’s nice to see you again.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

She didn’t know why all the signs were pointing to Sunnydale High School, but something was brewing. She loved California; perhaps she could work on her tan while she was here. And this guise she’d taken definitely attracted attention, so she wouldn’t lack for companionship.

But, first, she had to fill out reams of paperwork. She looked around for a quiet place to write, but students were everywhere. She didn’t want to go back to the principal’s office. If she had to deal one more second with that man, she’d turn him into something – wish or not.

She spied the door that said “Library” and pushed through. Three students sat at one of the tables, whispering to each other. The boy glanced up from his reading and gave her an appreciative glance.

A man in his forties walked over to the table. “I found the-“ He stopped when the redheaded girl shushed him and pointed in Anyanka’s direction.

“Can I help you?” he asked, walking around the counter.

Something about him seemed so familiar. She glanced at the nameplate on the counter. “Rupert. My Rupert?”

“Pardon me?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I work here.”

“But you’re British.”

“One can be British and work in the States with the proper papers.”

“Oh. Yes. Papers. That’s why I’m here.”

“You’re doing a research paper?”

“No. New student forms. I have to fill them out before I can go to class. Would you like to help me?”

“I don’t believe I can provide any information that you couldn’t, Miss-?”

“Anya-“ She cut herself short, remembering what she was here to do. “Anya. Yes. That’s my name.”

“Giles, we found it,” called the blonde at the other table.

“Be right there,” he called back. He reached out a hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Anya.”

“You too.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rupert set the empty bottle on the table with a thump. “Get another while you’re up.”

“Aren’t you worried that I’ll turn you into a Fyarl again?”

“You wouldn’t do the same thing twice.”

“True. And right now you’re so pathetic that I would derive no enjoyment from it.”

“And they say you have no ethics.”

“If I was more ethical, I’d have cut you off last night. As it is, you’re going to have quite a head in the morning – afternoon – evening – whenever.”

“Remember when we used to be able to do this for days. Ride the high for a night or three. You, me, Diedre, that friend of hers with the hair.”

“And that other friend of hers with the-“

“Right. She’s on her honeymoon now.”

“Diedre’s friend?”

“Anya.”

“Ah, the fair Anyanka. If only wishing could make her appear.”

“It doesn’t work.”

“Of course not. She’s human now.”

There was a knocking sound. Rupert glanced at Ethan, whose knuckles rested on the table. “You’re not funny.”

Ethan held up the presumably offending hand. “Wasn’t trying to be.” The knocking came again. Ethan hadn’t moved.

Rupert tried to get up from his spot on the floor, but got tangled up and fell back down.

“Please. Allow me,” said Ethan, rising to his feet.

Rupert heard the door open and Ethan say, “Be gentle with him” and then more loudly, “Be seeing you.”

Rupert tried to spin his head toward the door, but it hurt to move. Soft footsteps padded across the carpet and then Anya moved to sit beside him. “Why didn’t you come?” she asked.

“I couldn’t.”

“I didn’t think it would hurt so much, but it did. And I got to thinking about what I was about to do.”

“Anya.” There was a question, but he wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to ask.

“I couldn’t.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around her.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Happy Birthday, Mister Giles,” said Andrew.

“Thank you.”

“Buffy wanted me to let you know that there’s a Scooby meeting at her place later.”

“Am I to act surprised?”

Andrew stammered, “It’s a Scooby meeting. Not a party. I didn’t say anything about a party. Tell Buffy I didn’t say anything about a party. No party.”

“So what time is this ‘Scooby meeting’?”

“Seven o’clock. No, seven-thirty. You’re supposed to get there at seven-thirty.”

“Seven-thirty it is then.”

“Should I wait?”

“No, Andrew, I shall be able to get to Buffy’s flat on my own. You go ahead.” Andrew nodded and left.

Moments later, there was a knock on Rupert’s office door. Rupert looked up to see Ethan in the doorway.

“Your Slayer didn’t send me an invite to this evening’s festivities, so I thought we’d make do with this.” Ethan produced a bottle of scotch and a cupcake and set both objects on the desk in front of Rupert. “I should have a candle around here.” He patted his pockets and then retrieved one, sticking it in the middle of the cake.

“I’m a little worried about letting you handle candles and fire.”

“Remind you of old times?”

“Something like that.”

Ethan lit the candle. “To old times then. And tradition. Make a wish, Ripper.”

Rupert closed his eyes, feeling pain slice through him at Ethan’s words. “I’m afraid my wishing days are done.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” came a soft feminine voice from the door.

Rupert’s eyes flashed up toward the woman in the doorway. “Anya? How?”

“A little this, a little that, a teensy-weensy little sacrifice,” said Ethan. “Be seeing you,” he added with a wave before heading out the door.

Anya walked over and sat on the edge of his desk. Rupert ghosted his fingers along her fingertips, until finally Anya clasped his hand in her very solid one. “He’s making that up. About the sacrifice. It took some time. More than I would have liked. I had to call in a few favors, but I was finally able to get my wish. It’s good to see you, Rupert.”


End file.
